Trafford Magistrates’ Court and Altrincham County Court are to close as part of “modernisation” plans announced by the government today.
The Sale-based courts are among 86 that will shut in a cost-cutting measure aimed at a system that Justice Minister Shailesh Vara said today was “unwieldy, inefficient, slow, expensive to maintain and unduly bureaucratic”.
The closures mean that Altrincham residents requiring court services will now have to travel to Manchester city centre.
Altrincham County Court cases will move to Manchester County Court in the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, while Trafford Magistrates’ Court cases will move to Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court.
The closure will take place by June 2016.
Today’s announcement follows a consultation launched last July which earmarked a total of 91 of 460 court buildings for closure; just five of the 91 have escaped closure.
A total of 11 responses were received in relation to Trafford Magistrates’ Court and Altrincham County Court.
One came from Graham Brady, MP for Altrincham and Sale West, who said any closure would “adversely impact the delivery of local justice and put a heavy burden on court users”, while Trafford Council said that “access to justice is paramount”.
But HM Courts & Tribunals Service said that while it acknowledged that some court users would now need to travel further, “79% of potential court users in Altrincham will be able to travel to the court by public transport in less than an hour”.
It also dismissed a suggestion from Trafford to use Altrincham Town Hall as an alternative base for the court.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court cost £595,000 to run in 2014-15, but was used just 27% of the time, below the average for the 86 closing courts.
Vara said the government was committed to spending £700m over the next four years to update the court and tribunal estate, “installing modern IT systems and making the justice system more efficient and effective for modern users”.
He added: “Our courts and tribunal system is in need of urgent reform. Maintaining our underused and dilapidated court buildings costs the taxpayer £500 million a year but some courts sit for less than half the time available.
“This is simply unsustainable. Closing these courts in poor quality buildings will raise £40 million to re-invest in the justice system, and save hard-working taxpayers £27 million per year.
“The decision to close a court is never taken lightly, but in the digital age I am confident we have measures in place to ensure access to justice is not diminished.”
